Sonia names new Manipur Congress chief, reshuffle on the cards

Imphal: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday appointed former Manipur assembly speaker T.N. Haokip as the new president of the party’s state unit with “immediate effect” — giving a group of dissidents demanding ‘one man one post’ its first victory.

For a long time, the 25 dissidents in the 48-member Congress Legislature Party (CLP) have been demanding ‘one man one post’ in the state.

Some dissidents told IANS that a cabinet reshuffle may take place soon.

Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam has been the state unit president for quite some time.

Gandhi had met a representative group of the dissidents a few days ago to listen to their side of the story.

She then met Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and Gaikhangam.

V. Narayanasamy, the Congress’s national general secretary in charge of the northeast, was also given special instructions to look into the demands of the dissidents.

Manipur goes to the polls in February next year.

The second demand of the dissidents is to drop all 11 ministers and induct them instead. They are also demanding some constitutional and political posts since all of them cannot be accommodated in the cabinet.

However, party leaders said it was not possible to drop all the ministers since they were part of some communities that cannot be left out.